Delaware Senate Bill 209 (Prior Session Legislation)

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Completed Legislative Action
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: Passed on June 28 2012 - 100% progression
Action: 2012-06-28 - Signed by Governor
Text: Latest bill text (Draft #1) [HTML]

This Act provides an important tool for combatting obstruction of justice by those who would purposely make false statements to law-enforcement during criminal investigations. Federal investigators and many states’ law-enforcement officers rely on statutory provisions specifically enacted to prevent those interviewed in the course of criminal investigations from providing false information. See, e.g., 18 U.S.C. 1001 (False Statements Accountability Act of 1996). Delaware has no such statute and, therefore, Delaware law-enforcement officers and agencies regularly face witnesses who seek to prevent, hinder or delay criminal investigations by lying with impunity to those officers. This Act closes that gap by allowing for the prosecution of one who intends to obstruct a criminal investigation by knowingly providing a false and material statement to law-enforcement.

An Act To Amend Title 11 Of The Delaware Code Relating To Obstruction Of Justice.

Rep. Edward Bennett [D]	Rep. Ruth Briggs King [R]	Rep. Ruth Briggs King [R]	Sen. George Bunting [D]
Sen. Brian Bushweller [D]	Rep. William Carson [D]	Sen. Bruce Ennis [D]	Sen. Gerald Hocker [R]
Rep. Deborah Hudson [R]	Rep. Quinton Johnson [D]	Sen. David Lawson [R]	Rep. Clifford Lee [R]
Rep. John Mitchell [D]	Rep. William Outten [R]	Rep. Harold Peterman [R]	Sen. Gary Simpson [R]
Rep. Melanie Smith [D]	Sen. Liane Sorenson [R]	Sen. Robert Venables [D]

2012-06-20 - House - House Third Reading (Y: 39 N: 0 NV: 1 Abs: 1) [PASS]
2012-05-17 - Senate - Senate Third Reading (Y: 17 N: 3 NV: 0 Abs: 1) [PASS]

Date	Chamber	Action
2012-06-28		Signed by Governor
2012-06-20		Passed by House of Representatives. Votes: Passed 39 YES 0 NO 1 NOT VOTING 1 ABSENT 0 VACANT
2012-06-20		Amendment HA 1 - Defeated in House by Voice Vote
2012-06-20		Amendment HA 1 defeated
2012-06-20		Amendment HA 1 - Introduced in House
2012-06-13		Reported Out of Committee (PUBLIC SAFETY & HOMELAND SECURITY) in House with 7 On Its Merits
2012-06-05		Introduced and Assigned to Public Safety & Homeland Security Committee in House
2012-05-17		Passed by Senate. Votes: Passed 17 YES 3 NO 0 NOT VOTING 1 ABSENT 0 VACANT
2012-05-10		Reported Out of Committee (PUBLIC SAFETY) in Senate with 6 On Its Merits
2012-04-25		Assigned to Public Safety Committee in Senate

Type	Source
Summary	http://legis.delaware.gov/LIS/lis146.nsf/2bede841c6272c888025698400433a04/4abb4e3e2aa0e664852579ce005f2c2d?OpenDocument
Text	http://legis.delaware.gov/LIS/lis146.nsf/vwLegislation/SB+209/$file/legis.html?open
Roll Call	http://legis.delaware.gov/LIS/lis146.nsf/7712cf7cc0e9227a852568470077336f/3fce99e0aecae53085257a01006eb750?OpenDocument
Roll Call	http://legis.delaware.gov/LIS/lis146.nsf/7712cf7cc0e9227a852568470077336f/31984fb9751e178c85257a230076680d?OpenDocument